ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Leader Jazz Trombonist Jerry Tilitz takes the listener on a tour of his New York City bands in the seventies and eighties which included many great artists that went on to make a name for themselves in the coming decades.

The New York Tapes is a document of the NYC jazz scene in the seventies and early eighties as captured in the small group recordings Jerry Tilitz produced for his Both Feet label. Featured prominently in these sessions are the extraordinary talents of musicans who went on to greater glory in the following decades: Billy Hart, Arnie Lawrence, Jim McNeely, Tom Harrell, Jerome Harris, Gary Smuylan, Bob Moses, Valery Ponomarev and others.

" this CD demonstrates the talents of one of the most able exponents of the modern jazz trombone." John Stevenson, jazzreview.com

"...with these sessions, possessed of a distinctively confident and articulate trombone voice, Jerry Tilitz romps with the best of them..."Tilitz again shows why he is one of the jazz trombone's foremost technicians."- John Stevenson, jazzreview.com

"This CD is clearly the product of a very creative period. Several of the emerging talents involved went on to reach the top of their profession. It is interesting, for instance, to hear Ponomarev and Harrell at this early stage sounding so confident and inventive."- Bob Weir, Jazz Journal International

"Tilitz here celebrates the life of a jazz musician trying to ply his trade in New York City...Throughout the leader gets some good performances from his sidemen (and) Tilitz himself blows loose-limbed out of J.J. horn that makes me wonder why I haven't encountered him before. Well, I have now and I am glad of it."- David Dupont, Cadence Magazine

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Jerry Tilitz is an american trombonist,vocalist and composer from New York City. In the course of his career Mr. Tilitz has performed and recorded with many exceptional artists including Gerry Mulligan, Horace Parlan, Hank Jones, Roy Eldridge, Benny Golson, Herb Geller, Tommy Flanagan, Al Foster, Tete Montoliu, Danny Moss, Randy Sandke, Tom Harrell, Benny Bailey, Bill Mays, Randy Brecker and others.

After studying with Jazz luminaries Lennie Tristano and the influencial trombonist Curtis Fuller, Jerry began his professional career with Billy Taylor's Jazzmobile Big Band program. In addition to becoming involved in New York City's vibrant club and studio scene he taught jazz theory and analysis at Queensboro College and received a grant for composition and performance from the prestigious U.S. National Endowment for the Arts.

More recently Mr.Tilitz has hosted his own radio program in Germany called An American In Hamburg, played in musical productions including Cats, Chorus Line, 42nd Street and Ain’t Misbehavin’ and written for publications such as the well regarded Jazz Journal International. He has produced several recordings for his own label Both Feet Records including The Dance Of The Living Room Sofas (BF 1002-2) featuring Don Braden, Lonnie Plaxico, Cecil Brooks III and Michael Cochrane and Jerry Tilitz/The New York Tapes (BF 1001-2), a CD sampler of his New York City period which includes his bands featuring Tom Harrell, Arnie Lawrence, Jim McNeely, Bob Moses, Harold Danko, Jerome Harris, Gary Smulyan and Billy Hart. Also available is a recording released on the german label Bellaphon, Tales Of Two Cities (CDLR 45035) with Horace Parlan, Adam Nussbaum, Ray Drummond, and Bill Mays and the new CD Back To Back, the latest addition to his discography on the Nagel Heyer label.

These days Jerry appears with his trio and quartet, as a guest soloist and tries to find time to write for his 4 trombone latin group Raging Bones and The Swing Composers’ Orchestra which features original compositions in the late swing/early bebop genre.